Home > Essex > Sheering > Queens Head Queens Head
Date of photo: 1960s	Picture source: John Cutting
The Queens Head was situated on Sheering Road.
Local newspaper review by John Cutting, 1967
From the  inn sign outside the Queen's Head the young Victoria peers benignly down the4 busy road leading from Shearing to Hatfield Heath and seems to approve the modern scene. Certainly there have been vast changes since the end of her golden reign.
The inn was, at one time, the centre of many a rough house when gangs from the Heath and from Matching would come into Sheering looking for trouble.
The road outside was then known as 'Blood and Snot Alley' and there is no doubt that the punch-ups were both rumbustious and sanguinary.
Wally Lindell came to Sheering from West Ham some three years ago and, although a Londoner bred and born, he immediately felt at home in the country. A number of children, evacuated during the war, afterwards settled in the village and he found among them many kindred spirits.
A great sportsman, he has supported the 'Hammers' for nearly half a century and the rosettes in the public bar signify his interest in other famous football teams. He is also a boxing enthusiast while both Pat, his wife, and his son Roy, have shown considerable prowess in their various sporting activities.
The inn has an expert darts team who are, this season, in great form and, at the moment, are top of the McMullen League.
Wally still carries on his profession of electrical engineer and, during the day, the running of the inn is left in the capable hands of Pat.
A petrol filling station is attached to the inn and fifteen months ago the forecourt was enlarged and modernised. At the same time the brewers extended the public bar and constructed a car park for the benefit of the customers.
Once a goat shed stood next to the inn while on the other side there were huge stables which were owned by Neil Bolden. It was there that the horses on the famous King's Lynn to London coach were changed.
The inn was a favourite stopping place for the hay waggoners who fortified themselves there before moving on to the next stopping place by the Wake Arms. Fred Griggs, one of the old drivers, still lives in Sheering and his son, Tony, told me how he first learned from his father, how to drink and to play darts at the Queen's Head before he was ten years old.
Other characters who make the inn a real local include Bill Birch, an octogenarian, who was at one time the council road mender. Before his retirement, it was his proud boast that he never went indoors to eat his lunch but would always tackle his bread and cheese and flask of cold tea in the open using his up-turned barrow as a table. During the alterations to the bar Bill unfortunately lost his corner seat which he had called his own for a great many years.
Another regular supporter is Jack Hockley who a few months ago received recognition of his fifty years' service on a local farm.
On the wall of the saloon is one of Leonard Springham's famous corn dollies while the electrical fittings are Wally's own work. There is a good specimen of a post-horn and above the bar are some delightful hand-engraved plates bearing the pictures of game birds. A number of sporting prints will soon be mounted on the walls of the public bar.
A bust of the elderly Queen Victoria looks down from the outside wall of the inn while in the saloon is a photograph of Her Majesty which, in the absence of television, was given the widest circulation after her death.
Brewers: McMullen & Sons Ltd
Do you have any anecdotes, historical information, updates or photos of this pub? Become a contributor by submitting them here. You can add your email contact details along with other ex-customers and landlords of this pub here.
Other Photos
Wally & Pat Lindsell, publicans, 1960s	Picture source: John Cutting